Easy 8.25K Again...

Warm and humid morning, felt ordinary for the first 5K or so, then felt pretty good once I got to Blaxland.

Added Some of my Usual Running Haunts to the Sidebar...

Lots of neat trails around where I live. Plus more to explore.

I was looking at some maps last night and plotting out a marathon-ish distance out and back to Springwood that went down to the Duckhole, up to St Helena Crater, Lost World and Bunyan Lookouts, then Martin's Lookout and into Springwood via Macquarie Rd. Then return- some big hills there. On the "to do" list for the near future....

Ouch.

Got myself a new toy- an Orbea Enol road bike. Fairly bottom of the range, but I don't have a lot of cash at the moment and need a steed to help me lay down a lot of aerobic hours for WS100 and, a little down the track, for NZ C2C and IM OZ.

So, Monday I did a big 12K and today a big 15K on the Orbea. Wow, my arse, wrists, neck and shoulders are fucking sore right now. I feel like Alec Guinness at the end of Bridge on the River Kwai where, appalled at his own actions, he utters "What have I done?"


I shall get used to it in good time. 400K bike weeks are not far off.

No run yesterday but this afternoon (couple of hours after the 15K ride) I ran 8.25K to the restaurant without a watch, but felt quite good- was moving well even on the hills. Not a long run, but enjoyable.

Wrap Up- 111K Week.

Friday 23/2 I ran into the restaurant again, this time I felt quite good and took the Garmin. 8.25K in 4.59 pace. Week to date 69K...

Saturday 24/2 was very hot (33 degrees and humid from recent rain) when I ran home via the bush (Long Angle Trail- 12K) in between shifts. I treated it as I treated other very hot midday runs- doused myself with plenty of water and walked when I began to overheat. As a result, a slow run but felt fine at the end. 81K for the week...

Sunday 25/3 I ran with Shogun from home to Nepean Lookout and back. 30K at 5.35 pace.

Weekly total= 111K.

Nice recovery after the shit week beforehand.

Back on Track, a Bit...

Monday 19/2- 36K with Shogun, up the Oaks from Glenbrook to Woodford and then down the highway to Faulconbridge. Not too bad, although the dozens of hours standing up at work recently meant I ended up with very sore hip flexors after the 20K mark. Dropped in a few sub 5.10min/kms on the road near the end which was good.

Tuesday 20/2- Thursday 22/2- 8K run into the restaurant each morning to collect the car. Felt fairly crappy on each of these runs.


Week to date= 60K.

Hell Week.

Well, the week 12th- 18th Feb was the week from hell, running wise and sleep wise...

The week started off with urgent renovations at the restaurant to free up the top floor for Valentine's Day, which were completed on Wednesday morning with a few hours to spare. We served 72 people that night, and then the chef was off sick for the rest of the week with a heap of bookings and a wedding reception looming. Ended up working 14- 17 hours each day of the week (on my feet) and only got in one run- 16K with Shogun on the Tuesday, at 4.45am. Not much sleep either- for example on the Friday we left the restaurant at 11pm, came back 7am Saturday, left 11pm that night, was back 7am Sunday.

Always wondered at people who said they were too busy for running, but now I have an understanding for their situation. Not good Six Foot Track preparation one bit.

Night Running....

These days I work split shifts on the weekends at the restaurant- morning and evening with a few free hours in between. Makes it hard to get any running in if there's a commitment in the break between shifts- so to bump up to 100K for the week this week I did a couple of late night runs on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday's run was at 11pm after a stupidly busy shift- I ran home from Warrimoo to Glenbrook via the road, rather than the bush option that runs via Long Angle Trail. It was a damn warm and humid evening and I deliberately didn't take the Garmin- just a steady 8K run.

Tonight's (Sunday's) run was from home, around 10pm, in solid rain up past Glenbrook Pool and the Lapstone Hotel and back, 6Ks.

100K for the week.

Woodford- Glenbrook.

FRIDAY 9/2/07, 30K (2.52, 5.43min/km), WEEK TO DATE 86K, 6 HOURS SLEEP, ASICS 1120

Got dropped at Woodford late in the morning on a coolish (21 degrees) day which threatened drizzle, ran from there to home in Glenbrook via the fabled Oaks firetrail.

Been too busy to run the last couple of days- sounds silly but work has been crazy. When you have your own business you don't get lunch breaks to bang out the odd 12K...

Anyway I took it fairly easy and just wanted to get in some aerobic Ks. When I got to the gate just above the Oaks Picnic Ground, rather than take the usual option of running down the dirt road to the causeway I took the MTBer's singletrack which runs parallel to the dirt road. I had not done it before and found it sublime by comparison. Winding in and out of trees and skipping over the odd tree root but still able to belt along at a good pace, it was a great change from the dirt road (which I shall avoid wherever possible in future).

The footing became pretty technical the last kilometre or so before reaching the causeway, plenty of sidetracks to explore in the future.

As usual I died in the arse climbing out of the Causeway and was pretty slow the last couple of Ks running to home- adding some extra distance around the local streets to bump the distance up to 30K.

On target for another 100K week.

In response to comments, there are a few events I'm still tossing up before putting them as goals on the blog, including Spud's June 12FT and C2K. At Glasshouse I have my streak of 5 straight finishes to continue with which is decent motivation. Not sure if I have the desire for C2K at the moment.

Doing Canberra HIM would be in order to get into Ironman Oz 2008. Couple of MTB races I'd like to do (if I can actually get in some MTBing!) would be the Dirtworks 100K in May and the Highland Fling 100 mi in November. Depends on how much riding I get in over the next few months- riding is good training for WS, builds up the quads....

Site Maintenance.

Finally updated those 2-year old sidebars with something more relevant!

A quick apology. I'd been thinking you were all ignorant buggers and not commenting on my blog. While I was tinkering around tonight I noticed that I hadn't changed the email address under "comment moderation" when I changed email addresses a year ago.

So there were 109 comments waiting for me to review.

Oops.

Reading them now....

In the meantime, I'm reading about all the crazy training and fast times people are doing which I will never match, despite being around for longer than most. So I'm looking at a bit more multisport later this year and particularly next year. In AR events I can be the young bloke who shows the old timers a thing or two, rather than the reverse which seems to be the current situation, running-wise. (-:

So keep an eye out for the odd bike ride and kayak paddle in here. Maybe even a race or two...

Sekrit Training....

TUESDAY 6/2/07, 7AM, 45K, WEEK TO DATE 56K, 5 HOURS SLEEP, SHOES ASICS 1120

I set off from a cool, misty Katoomba just after 7am Tuesday. 15 degrees, light drizzle, marvellous mountain weather, going to run the full Six Foot Track at easy pace.

I set off with a singlet, shorts, cap, Asics 1120s, padded gloves, two 600m handbottles, 2 litre Nathan pack, half a dozen fruit bars and an Up'n'Go breakfast shake.

I took it very easy to the river- found the footing quite loose on the approach to the Coxs. Passed the Nellies Glen sign in 14.18, the road in 55 minutes, the river in 1.50. The farms seemed a lot greener than memory told me from the last couple of years- last week's rain no doubt. The view back towards the mountains from Pinnacle Hill was magnificent as always- I turn back and admire the spectacle every time I reach there. Today the clifftops were lost in fog.

Passed some Army dudes with HUGE packs at the Megalong Rd and at the swing bridge, refilled my bottles and ate a couple of fruit bars at the Coxs Campground and walked all the way to the summit of Mini Mini, passing three young blokes hiking the trail near the Cattle Yards. Jogged to the Little River then walked all the way to the summit of the Pluviometer in 3.40 odd. I drank my Up'n'Go here and ate a couple more fruit bars.

Found some footprints in the dirt on Black Range from running shoes and wondered if I was following in the footsteps of Superflake. After passing the Moorara firetrail intersection I reflected I was running in the footsteps of 2P as well! Plus the Dog, and all the other obsessives who were doing big training this year and all set to kick my arse.

As I jogged into Deviation the clouds started to burn off and the sun came out but a cool breeze kept conditions relatively cool. Felt a bit tired over the last 10K or so but the last two fruit bars kept me going. Eventually reached Jenolan in around 6.20 (the Garmin died en route so I missed the exact time).

Thoroughly enjoyed the day- the Great Dividing Range is truly my spiritual home. A little stiff today but in pretty good shape really- spent Tuesday evening and part of Wednesday shifting furniture. The toe was sore but didn't hold me back much. Wonder who's going to get injured next?

Broken Toe and a Flat Period...

Broke my toe on the evening of Monday January 22, tripping over a box of books at home. Therefore, missed running that day. Wednesday did an easy 7K from the restaurant at Warrimoo down Rickard Rd to the bush and out to a nearby lookout where a finch was bathing in a rock pool. Magic. Toe a bit sore.

Next morning (25/1) I tried to do 30K with Shogun but pulled the pin at 16K when the toe was hurting too much. Decent run though, 5.08min/km. Ran into the restaurant that afternoon via Long Angle Trail, 12K in a slow 5.40 pace.

Saturday morning (27/1) Shogun and I set out to do intervals and I was feeling pretty damned ordinary. Plan was 2 x 2K and 4 x 400s but I dropped out of both 2K reps around halfway through when well off the pace, and similarly in the 400s. Just felt like shit. Lack of sleep I think.

Sunday an easy 5K around Brisbane Forest Park. Weekly total 65.5K.

Monday I did a run with UCB over some very hilly trails on Mt Coot-tha- 16K at a pace of 7.16min/km! Basically ran to the summit through the bush, down the other side to Gap Creek Picnic Ground, then back via a ridiculously hilly trail known as the Kokoda Trail (I asked UCB if they shot at you when you went up it, he replied that we would WISH we'd been shot and he was right) and then down to the start via the road and then the Summit Trail from the Lookout.

Tuesday a very slow 8K from Ashgrove in Brisbane to Simpsons Falls carpark and back in the Brisbane heat.

Didn't run again till this morning (Monday 5/2)- 11K from GLenbrook to Warrimoo with a little routefinding en route, looking for the Duckhole Track that runs down from the railway line to Glenbrook Creek.

Toe is no better than it was a week and a half ago- still sore on downhills etc.